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'"Do rich societies really need to get richer and richer indefinitely?" he asks.' They do if they are going to pay off their mega-debt. The real fear is when t
by LukeHoersten 12y ago
'"Do rich societies really need to get richer and richer indefinitely?" he asks.'
They do if they are going to pay off their mega-debt. The real fear is when the GDP drops below the yearly interest payments.
I feel the same when I go to nice European countries. "Wow everything is so nice" and then I remind myself that Germany is paying for it all. It's not sustainable. Look at some of the Scandinavian countries for nice mass public transit in a more sustainable setting.
- thret 12y agoDoes anyone actually think the USA will ever pay off its debt?
- gnaritas 12y agoPublic debt is private savings, you don't ever want to pay it off. Debt is to be serviced, not paid off.
- tsotha 12y agoThe way fractional reserve currencies work it's literally impossible for everyone to pay off their debt, and if a substantial portion of people did there would literally be no money. So... no.
- lmm 12y agoIf you're talking about bonds, it came pretty close near the end of the Clinton administration. (If you're considering every dollar as a piece of government debt, which in some sense it is, then probably not).
- roymurdock 12y agoThere is an alternative to paying off mega-debt - defaulting. Just as Germany did when they were forced to pay ridiculous war reparations after WWI (after a period of hyperinflation as they tried to print their debts away, much in the spirit of the EU QE efforts). If Germany is paying for all of this and building an unsustainable debt by not investing in European infrastructure and businesses that will generate it a return, then so be it - this is a problem for Germany. They'll either have to start seizing assets or annulling debt.